Friday, December 14, 2007

Al Gore and Global Warming Hypocrisy

Negotiations are deadlocked at the UN conference on global warming being held in NUSA DUA, Indonesia. At the conference Al Gore told delegates in a speech that “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali.” “Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere it is not now,” Mr. Gore said to loud applause. “You must anticipate that.” Gore is playing domestic US politics. He cannot resist a swipe at Bush and the Republican Party.Gores approach is blinkered and hypocritical. China’s representative Su Wei said that there was absolutely no reason for China to do anything about its C02 emissions. He argued that China was a poor country with a large population and needed more time to develop economically. In essence the Chinese have told Al Gore to get stuffed. They realize that he is a wimp. The Russians and Indians are no more accommodating. If Gore were consistent he would have launched blistering attacks on China, India and Russia.The EU is apparently unhappy with the US approach also and has threatened to boycott separate talks proposed by the Bush administration in Hawaii next month.This is a fine example of EU hypocrisy. The EU favours large scale importation of beef from Brazil. Expanding cattle herds in Brazil contribute to global warming. The Methane level increases. There has been large scale burning of Amazonian rain forests to make way for cattle ranches supplying the EU market. This increases CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Germany imports Russian gas. It cynically turns a blind eye to Russian excesses on the environment. At the EU conference it is a case of the kettle calling the pot black.

About Me

This blog will deal primarily with Irish and International political issues. I have long believed that the greater the diversity of comment the stronger our democracy. On occasions analysis may be quite trenchant. I also intend to range over diverse cultural strands of Irish and world society. Sports such as Hurling and Rugby Union -primarily but not exclusively-will feature from time to time.
Other issues -that take my fancy- will surface.